Rita (Saldaña) is a defense attorney in Mexico who works hard for an unpopular boss while making him look good in court. But someone notices her skills: Rita gets an offer she can’t refuse from Manitas (Gascón), a notorious cartel boss who yearns to live authentically as a woman, and hires Rita to find the right person for gender-affirmation surgery . After moving Manitas’ wife Jessi (Gomez) and their two boys to Switzerland, Rita helps him fake his death while Manitas goes under the knife and becomes Emilia.

Four years later, Rita is in London on a date when she meets and recognizes Emilia, who says she misses her children and wants Rita to help move them back to Mexico. (Emilia tells them she is Manitas’ “distant cousin”.) Rita moves home and helps Emilia start a nonprofit organization to find the missing bodies of drug cartel victims for their family members. As Emilia tries to make amends for her crimes, she grows increasingly angry with Jessi for neglecting the children and reconnecting with ex-boyfriend Gustavo (Edgar Ramirez).

And on top of all this cheesy plot is how it works with the film’s musical elements. Original songs are interspersed into the narrative in sometimes fantastical ways and mostly for character development purposes. They tend to be rhythmically more abstract than show tunes, but by the end, you’ll be humming at least one rousing tune.